Should Collingwood pay up now or wait until next year to tie down Brodie Grundy to a contract extension?

It’s understood Grundy has parked contract talks with the Magpies, having rejected a reported three-year offer worth $850,000 per year.

The star ruckman is seeking a six or seven-year deal, with his contract set to expire at the end of 2020.

Essendon great Tim Watson would be reluctant to pay the 25-year-old ‘franchise money’ with the likes of Jordan de Goey and Darcy Moore set to also come out of contract next season.

“You’ve got to work out how much you want to pay for your ruckman,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.

“What you value your ruckman at in terms of the position they play, what their production is and how that influences the game.

“If you were going to call it ‘franchise money’, I’m not putting it in my ruckman. I think he's a very good ruckman, he might be the best ruckman in the competition, but I’m not putting that amount of money in my ruckman.

”I’m just saying in terms of the strategy about where you put your money if you’re a list manager, I wouldn’t be putting it all in my ruckman.”

Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon would move now to lock away Grundy but only for a right price.

“I think he’s so important you do what you have to do within reason to secure him,” Lyon said.

“What are you going to learn in one more year? He’s already one of the best two in the league.”

Andrew Jarman called for Adelaide to table Grundy an offer of up to $1.5 million a season to lure him back to South Australia.

Listen to the best bits of this morning’s edition of SEN Breakfast in the player below